KENAI — Alaska’s forests will finally have a representative in Washington, D.C.: This year’s Capitol Christmas tree will be the first one from the Last Frontier.

Dozens of Alaskans gathered on the Kenai Peninsula Tuesday to watch the 75-foot Lutz spruce be uprooted, reported The Peninsula Clarion.

“It’s hard to believe,” said Keith Freeman, who has lived in Alaska for decades and watched the tree-cutting ceremony. “You know, there’s plenty of trees down there (the Lower 48). To pack one down (thousands of) miles, and all the volunteers ...”

Gov. Bill Walker’s administration is preparing to roll out the most radical change to the state’s annual budgeting process since the creation of the Alaska Permanent Fund in 1976.

At noon Wednesday in Centennial Hall, lawmakers were briefed on a budget plan that redirects almost all of the state’s oil revenue to the Permanent Fund, in effect turning it into a money factory that would generate about $3.3 billion per year.

The plan also promises to radically change the way the annual Permanent Fund Dividend is paid.

Leaders of the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation were the subjects of a legislative inquiry on Tuesday as lawmakers consider whether the AGDC is fit to take over from pipeline giant TransCanada in the natural gas megaproject known as AKLNG.

Tuesday was the fourth day of a special session devoted to deciding whether the state should buy out TransCanada’s share of the $45 billion to $65 billion project in order to be assured of more profit once it begins operating.

LONDON — Oil giant BP reported a 96-percent drop in third-quarter profit Tuesday and announced further efforts to curtail spending as it prepares for a prolonged period of low oil prices.

The London-based company said net income fell to $46 million from $1.29 billion in the third quarter of 2014. So-called underlying replacement cost profit, BP’s preferred measure of performance, fell 40 percent to $1.82 billion.

ANCHORAGE — The Army Corps of Engineers suspended its study into building the first deep-water port for large oil and gas support ships in the Arctic Ocean after Royal Dutch Shell ended its exploratory drilling off Alaska’s northern coast.

Shell’s decision last month to halt offshore drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas raised questions about the need for the port project aimed primarily at reducing travel costs for oil and gas support vessels, the Corps said in a statement Monday.

JUNEAU — Business and industry groups have appealed a state agency decision to grant a water reservation to conservationists who want to protect fish from the potential development of a coal mine in south-central Alaska.

Earlier this month, the Department of Natural Resources’ Water Resources Section approved one of three water reservation applications from the Chuitna Citizens Coalition. The approved application was for a section of water outside boundaries of the mine plan that PacRim Coal is pursuing.

NEW YORK — Delta Air Lines is leaving the main trade and lobbying group for U.S. carriers.

The CEO of Airlines for America, Nicholas Calio, said in a statement Tuesday that Delta “has not been aligned” with other airlines on some key industry positions, including plans to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system.

Delta said the $5 million in annual membership dues could be put to better use. The airline had a $3.5 billion profit the first nine months of this year.

ANCHORAGE — Vandals have struck a 200-year-old Russian Orthodox and Alaska Native cemetery in Sitka for the third time in recent weeks, toppling marble headstones weighing hundreds of pounds.

Some of the tombstones at the site date back to the 1800s. Between the three vandalism incidents at least 10 headstones sustained significant damage, Sitka police Lt. Lance Ewers said Tuesday. The latest vandalism occurred overnight Saturday and involved 25 tombstones.

FAIRBANKS — Genetic research into the ancient remains of two infants found near the Tanana River may have revealed how the Americas were populated.

The infants, who were buried 11,500 years ago at the Upward Sun River site, have been linked to two ancient lineages of Native Americans found throughout North and South America. The research is detailed in a paper published this week in the Proceeds of the National Academy of Sciences, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.